Jason Grace and the Seven not-Leo's
by TeamIris-GoROFLcopters
Summary: After an explosive argument between Jason and Leo, Hera decides it's time for the others to fully understand Leo Valdez. But I don't think anyone - including Leo - is too keen for her idea. But, she is a goddess... A fun fanfic I dreamed up in Maths, because it's more interesting than Calculus. Rated T because it's better than coffee. Enjoy. Spoilers for House of Hades.
1. Divided

**Well, there's no point hiding it anymore. This fanfic proves it. I'm insane.**

**DISCLAIMER: Yes, hello my name's Rick Riordan. And yes, I am a high school girl who writes fanfiction. Honest.**

**Kidding.**

**Seriously, we know I own nothing. Must we mock me?**

**BTW, House of Hades SPOILERS**

Hazel felt like death itself, and believe her, she should know. She hate, hate, HATED being seasick. Or airsick. Or whatever kind of sick was making her stomach pitch and roll like the great bronze warship she was stuck on. She remembered what Leo told her – keep your eyes to the horizon. The horizon was a big empty blue-ness, with a floor of clouds that wouldn't stop moving. Not helping.

She decided she'd had enough. She had only come up on deck to get away from the fight, but surely Leo and Jason were done by now? Even if they weren't, a lie down would be good.

As she walked through the Argo II's halls towards her room, she noticed her fellow questers – Piper, Frank, Percy and Annabeth – standing next to the mess hall door. They were still fighting in there? That was concerning. Jason could argue for half an hour, if he was having a bad day, but probably only with an enemy. Not with _Leo, _his best friend. And Leo, cheery, joking, ever-smiling Leo, shouldn't be fighting in the first place. She went over. There were muffled yells coming from inside.

"They're still fighting?" she asked. Piper nodded, listening intently. "What in Hades could they be fighting about?"

"From what we've heard – y'know, when they're yelling really loud – Jason tried to get Leo to tell him what happened when he was missing, Leo snapped at him, Jason blew up, Leo blew up more, and now it's a blowing up contest" Frank summed up.

"I think they're just tired." They all looked at Piper. "Well, Jason keeps on trying to be a hero and not let anyone take a shift because 'after Epirus, we need our rest' and Leo won't stop working." she explained. True enough, Hazel thought. Sometimes she thought that Leo spent so much time with machines, he was beginning to think he was one.

Suddenly, there was a crash, and all went quiet. Then, Leo burst out of the room, shoved past them and stormed away. Hazel was alarmed to see tears in his eyes, held back by sheer willpower. She followed the others in to the mess hall. Piper was helping Jason get up off the floor and into a chair. He had a nasty bruise already forming over his left eye.

"What in Hades happened?" asked Annabeth.

"Leo and I had a disagreement." said Jason.

"Really? Didn't notice." quipped Percy. Jason shot him a look.

"I was trying to figure out what happened to him, and he exploded at me." Jason explained.

"We gathered that. But was … that?" asked Frank, gesturing vaguely at the door, still open. Jason blushed and wouldn't meet anyone's eyes.

"Ah. Well, I um…" Jason cleared his throat. "I may have … um … brought his mum into it."

There was a full second of silence, broken by Piper smacking him one on the back of the head and yelling "JASON!" Frank pinched his nose bridge – of all them, he knew that playing the dead mum card was just _low_. Come to think, Jason should know that too. Hazel was stunned by how cruel that was. Percy just glared.

"And then, I take it, he punched you in the face?" Annabeth's tone was deadly calm, but her grey eyes were near black with anger. Jason nodded.

"Look, I tried to apologise. I hated myself as soon as the words left my mouth. But was gone." said Jason, his every feature racked with guilt. Obviously, he would never deliberately hurt Leo. He got to his feet with new purpose. "Could you guys help me find him? I have to make this right." The others nodded. Aside from wanting to help, this kind of rift could jeopardise the quest.

"I'll check the deck." said Frank.

"I'll go with Frank. That way, I can ask Festus if he knows." volunteered Piper.

"I'll check his room." said Annabeth.

"I got the stables." said Percy.

"I'll search the ship. He might be hiding." said Hazel softly.

"Then I've got the engine room. Let's go." said Jason.

In the corner of the room, invisible to the questers, Hera's eyes flashed. She'd watch the fight with a certain amount of … disapproval. Jason's actions today had proved that they clearly didn't know Leo well enough. Just before they headed for their designated areas, she waved an elegant hand. Divine magic rippled through the air, invisible. This would be interesting.

Jason sprinted towards the engine room. He was feeling so guilty he thought he would be sick. A tiny, Roman part of him said, 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. He had it coming". But he ruthlessly squashed it. Another rebellious part of him was still burning with anger at Leo's stubbornness, and the punch to the face. But he killed that too. _Get with the program, _he scolded himself mentally. _That was below the belt, and now I'm feeling guilty._

He rounded the last corner, slowly opened the door and peered inside. Leo was inside, tinkering at his workbench. Jason took a deep breath and walked in.

"Hey, man, I-" Jason faltered as Leo turned to him. But he wasn't quite Leo.

He was wearing a red bandanna to keep hair out of his eyes, which he had never done. His hands were more calloused, like he'd worked his whole life. There was a long smudge of grease down the side of his face. But the face was strangest. It was harder, not smiling at all. He looked Jason up and down, like he was a broken machine he had to fix. There was no sign he'd been crying, just dry eyes and a confused frown, like he didn't recognise Jason. And the EYES. They were … orange. The same colour as fire. Not angry fire or cosy fire. Forge fire, just something to be used as a tool.

If someone didn't know Leo like Jason did, they wouldn't notice anything. But Jason could see – THIS WASN'T LEO.

"Can I help?" the not-Leo said. He sounded irritated, like Jason had interrupted something super important.

"Dude, what's with…?" Jason gestured helplessly at him. The not-Leo mimicked the gesture, eyebrows raised. "The bandanna, the hands, the…eyes" Jason tried to explain.

"My eyes are always like this." He snapped.

"No, your eyes are brown… never mind." said Jason. "Look, I wanted to say I didn't mean what I said." The not-Leo stared.

"What did you say?" alarm bells went off in Jason's head.

"C'mon. We have to talk to the others." Jason walked towards the door.

"Why? I'm working." The not-Leo seemed confused. Jason blinked, and then all but dragged him out of the room.

"Guys. I found him, but-" for the umpteenth that day, Jason faltered. He'd walked into the mess hall and stared, gapping like Frank when he was a goldfish.

The others were already there, with…

Jason's head swivelled between the not-Leo and the rest of the room. There wasn't one Leo.

Including the guy he had in tow, there were seven.

**WHOA! Didn't see that coming! Review. Maybe I'll tell what happens next… **


	2. Stubborn

**Holy Hephaestus's Hand Grenades! I GOT 3 WHOLE REVIEWS! SO HAPPY! THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

**DISCLAIMER: What do you think? I own nothing!**

_There wasn't one Leo. Including the guy he had in tow, there were seven._

Seven. Seven Leo's were packed into the Argo II's mess hall. Oranges-eyes wandered past Jason and sat with the other five at the dining table. One Leo was standing in the corner, like he was trying to hide. Standing around the table were Piper, Frank, Annabeth, Hazel and Percy, all looking as confused as he felt.

Jason realised he still had his mouth open and closed it with a snap. "What…?" he managed. The others shrugged. There was a long silence. Jason realised they were waiting for him to say something.

"Who are you?" he asked the Leo's.

"Leo." they spoke in perfect unison.

"Sort of." said one.

"Yeah, I feel weird." agreed another.

"Well, a change is as good a holiday!" said one perkily.

"No, it's not."

"Says who?"

"Me. So, technically, you."

"Do not!"

"Mum dying was a change. I'd prefer the holiday." There was a chorus of assent.

As they bickered, Jason realised that they all looked like Leo, but…not. Each had something different in one or two tiny ways. One had pink eyes, and his hair was combed neatly. Another looked like good old Leo. Another had eyes like coal and flaming hair.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" said Frank, more confused than ever. "Introduce yourselves one at a time. You can't all be Leo."

"We could all be named Leo by cosmic coincidence." said good old Leo.

"That's stupid. We DO have other names." muttered one.

"Which are?" asked Piper, pouring a little charmspeak into her voice. The Leo's looked at each other. Then good old Leo stood.

"The name's Comedy." He said. Slowly, the others joined him.

"I'm Romance" said Mr Pink-Eyes-and-Neat-Hair.

"Creativity. Title says all." Orange-Eyes stood, not taking his eyes off the tiny celestial bronze bird he was building.

"Sadness." This one had straight hair that framed his face, and eyes bluer than Jason's. He was crying – which Jason supposed made sense. But no sense – since when was Leo sad?

"Fire. Just fire." Said the creepy one – his hair was on fire, with only little wisps of black visible at the bottom. Jason instantly hated this guy. Yeah, his flaming eyebrows were kind of funny, but he had a cruel smirk and there was amusement in his coal-coloured eyes. Not fun, happy, Leo amusement, but I know something bad is gonna happen to you and I find that funny amusement. Something told Jason this wasn't like the others. This was a dangerous and ancient blessing of Hephaestus, something that could kill you or save you if it wanted. He remembered how Leo had seen his fire powers as a curse before he learned to control them. Jason was beginning to understand why. You shouldn't play with Fire.

"Drive" the next one had red eyes like dim flames that could flare if you threw alcohol on them.

"Drive?" said Percy. "Like a car?" Drive rolled his eyes.

"No." he said. "Drive like determination, hard-working, mess with anyone I care about I'll whack you with a monkey wrench type-drive." He spoke to Jason, jerking a thumb at Piper. "I saved you and Beauty Queen over there from Cyclopes, remember? Then I built this spanking-hot war machine."

"_I _built the spanking-hot war machine." Corrected Creativity.

"Fine. But I kept you awake and working."

"O…kay?" Frank raised his eyebrows. "But who – what are you?"

"I think," said Annabeth slowly. "They're the different aspects of Leo's personality."

"Not sure about you, Wise Girl," said Percy. "But my personality tends to stay in my body."

"Hey, wait a minute," said Hazel. "What about you?" she spoke gently to the one in the corner. He'd backed so far into the shadows, Jason had forgotten he was there. Slowly, he stepped forward and spoke quietly.

"I'm Leo's fatal flaw. My name's Inferiority." He looked like normal Leo, except his eyes were a dull grey, like even they were trying to blend into the background. Jason's mind reeled. Leo's fatal flaw was inferiority? But that didn't seem like him at all. He was confident, witty, happy-go-lucky Leo 'Repair Boy' Valdez. Suddenly, Jason wasn't so sure he knew his best friend.

"Alright." Said Annabeth, calm as usual. "So you're Leo's personality. Comedy, Romance, Creativity, Sadness, Drive, Fire and Inferiority. So how do we get you back to being Leo? As in, one person Leo?"

"We have to agree on something." Explained Fire.

"Something super important." Added Romance.

"You can guess how often that's happened." Said Comedy.

"Right," Annabeth took her place at the head of the table. "So let's start brainstorming." The Leo's looked at her then at each other. Then back to her. Finally, Drive spoke.

"What makes you think we want to go back together?"

The words hung in the air around them. Jason tried to imagine Leo like this forever. A sense of humour that won't take things seriously. Driven without purpose. Romantic without sense. And no-one to keep Fire in check. The thought gave him a stomach ache. He _had _to convince them.

"But, you have to go back together! If you don't, you'll just be bits and pieces, never whole!" Piper took the words right out of his mouth. But there was no charmspeak, just panic. There was a long pause.

"You know, if we separate, we won't be able to agree with each other." Said Creativity thoughtfully. Comedy jumped to his feet with manic energy.

"Scatter!"

**Okay, folks, sorry if that was a little boring. I'm working up to a climax. Review and you'll get it! Maybe… **

**So, now we have seven temperamental, potentially dangerous Leo Valdez's running rampart on the Argo II. What have I done?**

**Till next time!**


	3. Missing

**OH MY GODS! I have NINE reviews now! That's like, last time squared! Just checked, and then did a little happy dance! Let there be updates!**

**DISCLAIMER: That guy on Google images? I hired him to be the figurehead. I'm the real Rick Riordan. Well, no not really. I own nothing. Not even Dr Seuss.**

_Comedy jumped to his feet with manic energy._

_"Scatter!"_

Okay. Piper was quick to get used to seven Leo's. It was weird, yes. But when you're a demigod, weird happens. Every day. In your face. She didn't like some of them, yes, and some shocked her a little, yes. But if that was weird, this needed a new word to describe it.

As soon as Comedy yelled "Scatter!" the others jumped like they'd been electrified. They had separated and all taken the four separate exits. After around three seconds, the rest of the crew followed.

Now she was chasing two of her unrelated annoying little brothers down one of the halls. No, not separate people. The same person. But not. Sad thing was, that wasn't even the strange bit. Drive and Fire ran down the hall, working together like they'd rehearsed it all their lives. They worked in perfect time, dodging her pot-roasts, leap-frogging over each other. And man, were they _fast. _The hall split two ways – Drive went left, Fire went right. Piper got the insane impression she was in that Dr Seuss book, Cat in the Hat. She felt helpless, like Sally and Conrad as they tried to catch Thing One and Thing Two. She had a crazy mental image of herself chasing normal Leo with a huge, comical net as he ran on the ceiling.

She looked left and right trying to decide. She took left – Fire scared her a little. Then, there was a huge crash and a groan. Piper saw Coach Hedge staring down at Drive who was clutching his nose on the floor. Evidently, he'd run past the Coach's cabin as he was coming out, and smashed into the door. Yep, weird stuff. In the face.

"WHAT THE BLUE BLAZES ARE YOU DOING, VALDEZ?" blustered the Coach, not noticing the changes.

"Take him to the mess hall!" yelled Piper. Hedge didn't ask questions – he just hoisted Drive, still groaning, over his shoulder like a bag of noisy potatoes. Piper ran after Fire.

She found Fire on the deck, standing near the mast, back to her. Alright, Beauty Queen, she thought, let's do this. She launched a lasagne at him, hoping to knock him out. He whirled suddenly, shot a fireball and incinerated the Italian dish in mid-air. If she blinked, she would've missed it. He smirked.

"You're…you're not like the others." she stammered. He shook his head.

"I'm not Leo. I'm simply an ancient power that lives within him. Like I lived in Thomas Faynor." he said calmly.

"Didn't he start the great fire of London?"

"Yep," Fire sighed happily. "I won't deny that was fun. Leo's different. He wants to use me for good and such. He's the boss. But, now I'm free to do what _I _want. And that's how I'd like to keep it." He summoned a fireball.

Piper would've gone the same way as her lasagne – AKA the smouldering pile of ash on the deck – if it weren't for Annabeth. She'd been on the yardarm the whole time. Now she dropped down and clonked the pyromaniac with a frying pan. Piper looked between her and the crumpled figure on the deck (why was his hair still flaming?).

"A frying pan? Seriously?" she had to ask. Annabeth shrugged.

"Athena always has a plan. We'll take him to the mess hall. Then, I'm going to help Seaweed Brain." she said.

"No, you go. I've got him." she said. If Percy was dealing with anything like this, he'd need help ASAP. Before Annabeth could protest, Piper grabbed the not-Leo by his work boots and starting dragging him down the stairs, wondering how his hair was on fire without burning the deck.

'Seaweed Brain' was getting annoyed. Inferiority was like a chameleon. At a glance, he would seem to be the easiest to catch. Au contraire, he darted about with as much energy as the others, and the moment Percy was out of sight, he'd shuffle into the shadows. He could be quieter and more unnoticeable than Nico di Angelo – and that boy could be pretty darn quiet and unnoticeable.

Percy looked desperately around the kitchen. He was certain Inferiority had run in here. "Look, man, I'm not going to hurt you or anything. Just come back to the mess hall and we'll have a nice chat. Okay?" Like the last few times, it failed epically. Then Annabeth burst in.

"Any luck?" she asked. Percy shook his head.

"I know he's in here. But, honestly, he can be more like a chameleon than Frank, and Frank can actually turn into a chameleon." he whispered.

"I have an idea, but I hate it. It might make his fatal flaw worse, and well, they _are _fatal…" she murmured.

"But, if we don't get Leo back together, what'll happen then?" Percy whispered. She nodded, conceding the point. She looked around the room, letting her eyes wander slowly and carefully. How she did that with ADHD, he had no idea. He could've sworn her eyes paused at a particular spot, but he couldn't see anything. Then, she strode up to the counter, grabbed a bag of flour and started stalking towards a shadowy corner.

Percy stared hard at the space. Was it his imagination, or was something moving back there. Annabeth brought back her hand…

And threw the flour into the opposite corner.

This corner was shadowy too, but the moment the bag hit, Inferiority emerged coughing and covered in white. He blinked at them. Annabeth put her hands on her hips in an attempt to look stern.

"Inferiority, you have to come with us." she said. He hesitated.

"Okay." Just like that. He followed Percy and Annabeth to the mess hall like a sheep that finally found its shepherd.

Romance and Sadness. Throw those two together on a normal day and Jason would immediately think of the movies the Aphrodite cabin were always watching – the one's he and Piper would laugh about the next day. Throw in a Leo (or two) and it's all the funnier. Not today.

He and Hazel were completely out of breath. The two not-Leo's had led them on a wild goose chase throughout the ship, finally taking refuge in Leo's cabin. Sadness was sitting cross-legged on the bed, still crying his eyes out. Seriously, what was he so sad about? Jason vowed to talk to him alone as soon as he got the chance. Romance saw them come in and stuck his legs out the window.

"Come one step closer and I'll jump!" he cried. Apparently he watched those movies too. Jason frowned. Leo watching romance films – oddest thought he'd had all day.

"Romance, get away from the window." Hazel sounded thoroughly fed up. Jason could relate.

"Look, dude, if you jump, how am I supposed to uphold my promise to find you a better prom date?" Jason asked. He knew Leo wasn't going to jump. Maybe he was secretly sad – which almost as strange as Leo watching romance films – but surely he wasn't suicidal. Right?

"You won't get back to her like that." mumbled Sadness. Jason had no idea what he was talking about. But Romance seemed convinced. He pulled his legs back in.

"I wasn't really going to jump anyway." he smiled. "So I suppose we'll come quiet-" he broke off mid-sentence and dashed for the door. But Hazel had had enough. She crash tackled him.

"Come on, you!" she said briskly. She half-lead, half-carried the dazed not-Leo out of the room. Jason grabbed Sadness by the arm and followed, slightly stunned.

Five out of seven Leo's and five out of seven prophecy demigods stood in the mess hall. Frank, Creativity and Comedy were still missing. That made Jason nervous. So far, Comedy and Creativity were the only bits of Leo he knew. He looked at the others – Romance, who may be suicidal or just dramatic, Sadness, who Jason couldn't figure out, Inferiority, who stood in his corner looking like he needed a hug, Drive, who seemed so…aggressive and Fire, who was downright creepy. Suddenly, Frank barged in, gasping for breath.

"You okay?" asked Percy. He and Hazel had run to the big guy's side to support him and help him into a chair.

"Couldn't…gas…para…shoot." he gasped.

"Slow down, Frank." chided Hazel gently. He caught his breath and started to explain what happened.

"I chased Comedy and Creativity into the engine room. They had some sort of gas – I could breathe, but it smelled gods awful. Like fart arrows. So, I was coughing and staggering and I couldn't see, and when it cleared…" he trailed off.

"What?" Piper prompted. Frank sighed.

"The window was open and two of the parachutes were missing. I'm sorry guys. Comedy and Creativity are gone."

**The plot thickens! That was fun to write. Till next time!**

**Amicalement, T. ! (From your friend, in French)**


	4. Answers

**Wow. So many reviews. You guys spoil me rotten. And I love it. Thanks for all the support! But, a few questions have popped up;**

**holly – No, I'm not really sticking to a schedule. I'm trying to update when I can, I may miss a day here and there. I'm no good with deadlines, so I'll probably just rush and screw it up if I made one. Hope that's OK.**

**ButterMan – Thanks for your review! I didn't mean to make Jason a jerk, it was more a heat of the moment, oh-my-gods-why-did-I-say-that type thing, but I appreciate the point of view! Thanks! Also, what's a persoty?**

**Ravenclaw For The Win – Hello, person I certainly haven't been friends with since grade 8. I have a proposal. We will shorten our bad nicknames, so instead of Crispy Chicken, you'll just be Crispy. And instead of Rainbow Vomit, I'll be Rainbow. There. Crispy, Rainbow, Empress, Squid and Co-bread. We got the bad stage names. Let's start a FOLK BAND!**

**DISCLAIMER: *clear throat awkwardly* Um, of course I own Percy Jackson… *notices suspicious glares*… RUN, THEY'RE ON TO US! THEY MIGHT HAVE FIGURED OUT WE OWN NOTHING!**

**Allons-y!**

_"I'm sorry, guys. Comedy and Creativity are gone."_

Stunned silence met that statement. Jason would've been less shocked if Frank had run naked in front of him and insulted his father. He looked at the other Leo's – Drive, who was holding a rag to his bleeding nose, Romance and Fire, who were both holding ice to their heads, Inferiority, who was covered in flour and Sadness, completely unharmed, but still crying. He wondered if the others were feeling like he was – like someone had stolen one of his legs. Or did they know these Leo's?

Ice spread though Jason's stomach. He had always thought of Leo as his best friend. Now, it turned out he knew less than half of him – and that tiny portion had just jumped out the window. Literally. Did the others know these guys? Perhaps, Jason wasn't his best friend. He felt sick, remembering the fight, what he'd said. Of course, he wasn't Leo's best friend.

"That could be a problem." a voice came from behind them. They all whirled to see her Royal Annoyingness, Queen Hera standing on the other side of the room, wearing the black dress and shawl she used to disguise herself as Leo's ex-babysitter, Tía Callida.

"Hera," Annabeth spoke sharply. "What's going on?"

"I had to take action." she said simply.

"You did this?!" Piper said incredulously. "Why would you do that?" Hera stared at Jason.

"It was made clear to me that you did not know him." it was addressed at all of them, but Jason could feel that godly glared burning him. This was _his _fault.

"How do we get him back?" he said with fresh conviction. He would get Leo back and he would make it right. Failure? Not an option. He thought he saw a flicker of approval in the goddess's eyes, but he probably imagined it.

"They've already explained it to you," she said. "They must have a united opinion on something important to all of them."

"Like?" asked Percy.

"I don't know if such a thing exists." she admitted. "But for now, you must find Comedy and Creativity, quickly."

"Why quickly?" asked Hazel, fearing the answer. Hera looked sad.

"Gods can have themselves in separate places for as long as they want. But Leo Valdez is no god. If all his personalities stayed on the ship, there would be no problem. But now there is too large a distance between. You have three days." she said.

"Before?" Jason asked.

"The larger group will survive," she sighed. "But Comedy and Creativity will fade into nothing. If that happens, you can still unite them," she nodded at the other five Leo's. "But, those pieces of him will be gone forever."

Jason sat down and ran his hands through his hair. He tried to imagine a Leo that couldn't build and didn't laugh and mess around. He couldn't. He looked up to ask where they were, but Hera was gone. He started to panic. He wanted to curl up and drown in guilt. But he couldn't. He had to keep his head, and fix this. He turned to the other Leo's.

"Do you know where they are? Like, can you sense them or something?" he asked.

"We can," responded Fire lazily. "But why should we? We've already said we don't want to go back together."

"But they'll die, or fade, or something if you don't!" exclaimed Frank. Fire raised his blazing eyebrows like, _so_? With a chill, Jason realised Fire didn't care. The others weren't saying anything. He racked his brains and realised that even Leo was nervous about his fire powers. Only Comedy didn't seem bothered by him. With Comedy gone, Fire stepped up as a natural leader.

With a jolt, he realised that he was the only one that wasn't a Leo, so he was the only one without inferiority. Obviously, Inferiority had the most, but if inferiority was his fatal flaw, it stood to reason that they all had tiny inferior bit in them. They wouldn't stand up to Fire without Comedy, who probably had the least, or something.

As soon as he worked all this out, an idea worthy of Athena popped into his head. Maybe Athena had taken pity on them?

"Alright." Jason said. He knew had to word this carefully. "If you help us find them, then I will swear on the River Styx that I will not try to force you back together or try to convince you to go back together. It's all up to you. And I'm sure my friends," he gestured at Piper, Percy, Annabeth, Hazel and Frank, who were looking at him like he'd lost it. "Will happily swear too." Fire considered this. He nodded and held out a hand for Jason to shake. Jason forced himself to look directly into those dark eyes as he took it. "I swear on the River Styx I won't force you back together or convince you to do so."

Fire gave a creepy grin that would've made Nico scared and looked at the other questers expectantly. One by one, they all swore on the Styx. Annabeth shot Jason a look that clearly said, 'you better know what you're doing'.

"Right!" said Romance enthusiastically. "So-"

"Wait." Drive cut him off. He held up a hand for silence and tilted his head. Creaks and groans came from the intercom – Festus was trying to tell them something. Drive's eyes widened.

"We're under attack!"

**CLIFFHANGER! MWAHAHAHAHA! Yeah, that's right, I'm not even sorry. Well, maybe a little. As it's been established, I'm not Rick Riordan.**

**Ha. They're under attack. What else is new?**

**Sorry if that was a little short and boring. Bits of the story that had to be said and such. And I wanted to do a cliffie. :) **

**VOTE! WHO'S YOUR FAVOURITE NOT-LEO? **

**Till next time!**


	5. Fighting

**That's right. Two updates. IN ONE DAY! Damn straight. Lake bent. Get it? **

**I was feeling guilty about the cliff-hanger. Curse my soft heart. **

**Ravenclaw For The Win – Good point. How 'bout…Beano? She's always the smiley one.**

**The vote is still going. I think I'll announce the winner at the end of the story.**

**Right! I've got to hype myself up for an awesome battle scene. Start the epic battle music! Wait, we don't have epic battle music to listen to? Okay. Start the Disney soundtracks!**

**DISCLAIMER: I'm running out of interesting disclaimers. I do not own Percy Jackson.**

_"We're under attack!"_

The crew of the Argo II were galvanised into action. Being under attack was something they understood – unlike five or so other things they could name. They dashed up stairs, the Leo's right behind them.

The first thing they noticed was the gryphon. The eagle-lion was in the middle of the deck, trying to destroy the main mast. The five Leo's attacked as one to protect the Argo II. Festus was blowing fire, and they saw there was another gryphon at the front too. Piper, Percy and Annabeth charged that one, but a third swooped at them, shrieking. Percy and Annabeth hit the deck, but it managed to snatch up –

"Piper!" yelled Jason. He flew after it, with Frank the friendly dragon right behind him.

Percy and Annabeth charged the gryphon that was tangling with Festus. Hazel ran behind them, grabbing the cornucopia Piper had dropped. When she reached them she found Annabeth and Percy whacking it, trying desperately to get it away from Festus, who had long claw marks along his snout. Their blades kept bouncing off. Hazel shot a raw steak over their heads. The gryphon chased after it, disappearing into the clouds. But the damage was done. The front stabilisers were damaged and the ship tilted forwards, falling towards the Ionian Sea.

Piper was furious. Stupid chicken-cat. It had her by the arms and was carrying her away. She struggled and kicked like a little kid throwing a tantrum. Then suddenly it dropped her. She fell through the sky, past the clouds and towards the sea. The sparkling blue was getting closer and closer. She could imagine Drew starting a joke back at camp when she heard – _What was the last thing to go through Piper's mind? The Ionian Sea. _**(A/N: yeah, that's not my joke. I can't take credit)**

Then familiar arms wrapped around her waist. Her heart did a little Irish jig. Jason was there. She let out a breath. No jokes necessary. She hugged him back. They hovered in mid-air for a moment, when she nearly screamed. The gryphon fell out of the sky, just missing them. It was fighting Frank the dragon. As she watched, Frank clawed it on the chest and it exploded into gold dust, which tumbled into the sea. He flew up to them and his eyes widened in alarm at something behind them. She swivelled in Jason's arms to see the Argo II pitching towards the sea.

Until the world tipped on its side, the Leo's were doing great. Drive, Romance and Fire attacked with precision. Fire hit it in the face with an intense blast. It staggered away from the mast and Romance and Drive looped around the back, attacking it with wrenches and hammers. It whirled around and Drive yelled as its claw cut his arm. He fell back as Sadness and Inferiority jumped in and clonked it with frying pans from their tool belts. They had it surrounded. It screeched and clawed and snapped, but the Leo's danced back as necessary. Back and forth, hitting and dodging and generally angering the bird.

Then the boat tipped forward. The gryphon screeched in alarm and took to the sky. The Leo's fell, sliding across the deck. Fire slammed against the front mast, and Drive landed on top of him, grunting as he hit his bad arm. Inferiority managed to grab hold of the shrouds. Sadness hit his head as he hit the railing. Despite the headache, he held tight. Romance slipped right off the front of the ship.

By this point, the Argo II was pointed straight down and headed for the ocean like a bizarre reverse Titanic. Romance free fell through the air for a few seconds, but something grabbed his leg and held him fast. He looked down. Well, it felt like down, but technically it was up. Annabeth was clinging to Festus's ears. Hazel had one hand gripping her ankle and the other holding onto Percy. Percy had caught Romance. Percy's face was scrunched up in concentration.

Suddenly, enormous hands made of water shot up and grabbed the boat front and back. Slowly the warship righted and the hands gently set them down in the ocean. The other Leo's helped the demigod chain back on deck, just as Piper, Jason and Frank touched down. Frank turned human and they all sat, panting on the deck, Greece still visible to the North-East. On their journey to Athens, they were flying around the southern point of Greece to avoid the land. Good thing too, or they would've crashed into a mountain.

Needless to say, Percy collapsed as soon as he hit solid ground. They sat there in a companionable sort of silence. Then they all jumped as the door crashed open. Coach Hedge burst on to the deck.

"Sorry, I was napping. Who needs to die!?" he asked. His looked disappointed when he saw nothing needed to die. And then confusion at the five Leo's. He'd only ever seen Drive.

"Hi." The waved and spoke in perfect unison.

"Wha…?"

Quickly, Piper explained – the separation, Hera and Comedy and Creativity. She had little scratches on her shoulders. As she spoke, Hazel dealt with Drive's arm and Jason poured nectar on her shoulders. When all was said and done, Jason got to his feet. He felt a little closer to the Leo's now, and that made him happy.

"Let's go find them"

**Whee, that was FUN! I love doing exciting chapters! Short, sweet and the best fun ever.**

**Anyone else notice how I thought this up in Maths and all the chapter titles have something to do with Maths? Divided, something you do in Maths, Stubborn, how the teacher feels about a lesson off on the last day in Maths, Missing, the condition of my brains in Maths, Answers, those magic things I always get wrong in Maths and Fighting, the thing I do to stay awake in Maths. I only just realised that. Huh.**

**When Jason and Piper were in mid-air, 'Kiss the Girl' from the Little Mermaid came up on my shuffled playlist. Was weird.**

**Till next time!**


	6. Conversation

**Hi, guys. How am I feeling? Monday. Nothing more to say.**

**Whoo-hoo! 47 reviews! Just 4 more and I have 50! Kidding. I'm not THAT bad at Maths. I know the answer's 2. =D**

**This'll be another 'talking chapter'. Sorry if you don't like. **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Percy Jackson. I own that Harry Potter thing, though. Kidding. I own nothing.**

_"Let's go find them."_

Jason wanted to pull a Percy and collapse onto the deck. The monster attack had happened at 3:00 in the morning. They'd been up all night with the Leo fiasco without realising. Then the Leo's had set up a sort of control headquarters in the mess hall. They'd moored on the shore of Greece (thank gods the oars still worked), assuming Comedy and Creativity had parachuted to land. Or swum. Jason had been up in the air nearly all day, scouting the nearby towns.

Now it was dusk, and Jason hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours. He was still racked with guilt and worry, but he just wanted to drop. He slumped against the railing, wondering what would happen if they didn't find them. The first day was already gone. He was completely out of his depth here. Even if he did find them, he'd sworn on the River Styx not to unite them. He DID have a plan in that department, but he was stuck.

The plan had been stupid and desperate looking back on it. IF he could figure it out, and IF it worked, it still scared the Hades out of him. Loopholing that kind of oath – not the best idea.

"Long day?" a gruff voice said. Jason turned to see Drive looking at him. He wandered across the deck and leaned against the railing nest to Jason.

"Yeah." he sighed.

"Nice of you to be worried about Me." he smiled. Jason took a moment to get the joke.

"Oh. Comedy and Creativity." Funny how even Drive had a spot of comedy in him.

"I'm on your side, you know." he said. Jason stared at him. "About reuniting. I think it might not be a half bad idea."

"Thanks." Jason was a little taken aback. "Why don't you stand up to Fire?" Drive shook his head.

"No way. Not without Comedy. Fire gives me the freakie-deakies." Jason must've been staring, because he added with some sass. "That doesn't mean I won't whack you with a tenant saw if you mess with what I care about."

"Right." Jason didn't doubt it. This guy had taken down three full grown Cyclopes when they'd threatened him and Piper. Granted, he'd been unconscious for that, but still…

Drive cleared his throat. "Point is, _when _we get Comedy and Creativity back, and when you try something, I'm with you." Jason liked the emphasis he put on 'when', something else caught his attention.

"Try something?" Drive rolled his eyes.

"Oh c'mon, I'm not stupid. You obviously have a plan." His expression was neutral, but the look in his eyes said 'or else'. Looking at his eyes, something occurred to Jason that had been bothering him.

"Hey, Drive? Why do you all look different? When I first met him, Creativity said his eyes were always orange. But I only ever see Comedy." asked Jason. Drive considered this.

"Think of it this way," he said after a moment. "Leo is an apartment that we've moved into over time. Comedy, Creativity, Fire and I were always there. Sadness, Inferiority and Romance came later. I suppose, Leo looks like Comedy because Comedy the biggest part of him. Also, we reached a mutual decision to let him lead."

This just confused Jason more. "Why does he lead? When did the others move in?" Drive looked amused, and a little sad.

"Mum's death changed us a little." he explained quietly. "Leo's always had powers, and been driven, funny and inventive. When our Màma died, we got sad, needed to be loved – gee, Aunt Rosa really helped there – and we didn't feel as worthy. We decided to let Comedy lead because he coped easiest. Also," he glared slightly. "Fire couldn't be trusted."

Jason stared. It was weird talking about the Leo's like different people. This wasn't possible. Leo was just one guy. Drive caught the look.

"Everyone's like that. None of us realise it – until stuff like this happens. But, we are many people really. Leo thought he'd made the decision to control Fire carefully, when really all his personalities were debating. You're like that. Never, ever assume you totally know all of someone. It's probably not possible." He turned to go, leaving Jason wondering what would happen if someone took _him _apart. Then Drive spoke again.

"One more thing. I let you in for a reason. I'm probably the most emotionally…sturdy of us, aside from Comedy. Normally, we don't like talking about Mum. But I did. Know why?" he asked. Jason shook his head. "Because Sadness wouldn't do well with interrogation, Grace. Don't prod at Sadness." His red eyes seemed to have flames in them, and for a moment this guy was scarier than Fire.

Jason knew he was talking about the fight. He taken Sadness and thrown what hurt him most in the face. Yeah, Esperanza had died years ago, but it still hurt Leo like it was yesterday. Drive was telling him to know boundaries, whether Leo was together or not. Drive left him. Jason slowly walked back to his bunk. Before he conked out, he promised himself he would never hurt Leo again.

**Wow. I really am making Jason a jerk. But at least he feels bad.**

**Sorry if that wasn't a big dramatic reveal. Don't worry – I've still got a conversation with Romance to go.**

**Conversation – that thing that entertains me and gets me in trouble in Maths.**

**Till next time! **


	7. Almost

**Hey, guys, sorry for not updating in days and such. You know those high school moments when you think everything's miles away and then exams and assessment pieces have snuck up behind you and are brushing their tepid fingers up your spine and breathing down your neck? Well, I had one of those. Fun. Then I went camping for cancer support. $33,000 raised all up! Whoo! **

**Guest – No, sorry, no Reyna in this one.**

**DISCLAIMER: That awkward moment when you don't own Percy Jackson…**

_Before he conked out, he promised himself he wouldn't hurt Leo again._

Jason burst into the mess hall with his hair all fuzzy and his shirt inside out. His pyjama pants were rumpled.

"I overslept, sorry!" he yelled. He paused when he saw Percy sitting alone in the hall. The Son of Poseidon looked him over bemusedly, a rolled up pancake on a fork halfway to his mouth.

"Already left." He said, before shoving his pancake into his mouth whole. How did he _do _that?

Jason's heart sunk. He wanted more than anything for the mess to be over right now. He wanted to be out there and helping…

"Wait, what are you doing?" he asked Percy. He mumbled something around his breakfast. Jason raised an eyebrow. Percy rolled his eyes and swallowed hard.

"Guarding the ship. I'm taking shifts with Annabeth and Hedge." Jason sat down with a sigh.

"Any leads?" he asked, not really expecting anything. Percy frowned in concentration and pointed his fork at Jason.

"You know, they said something about a big tug at Sidari or someth-" he didn't even finish. Jason was already out the door.

Jason flew north as fast he could. He didn't worry about mortals seeing him fly anymore. The Mist was very powerful – they probably just though he was a big bird with messy feathers and pyjama bottoms. He didn't need to know where Sidari is, because apparently Frank had taxied them about as a dragon. The airwaves were still rumpled – nothing he could see, more something he could sense. He just followed the trail.

After around half an hour, he saw a pristine Greek town below. That was where the trail went. Now, how to find the others? He was pondering that when a crow pecked him on the head.

"Ow! Shoo!" He tried to get the bird away, waving his hands at it. Then it scared the Styx out of him as it spoke.

"That's rude." Jason gaped at it.

"Frank!?" he asked. The crow – supposedly Frank – dipped his head in a birdy nod. "You can talk as animals?" another nod. "Then why'd you peck me?"

"Piper saw you. She said 'after yesterday, that idiot should be resting. Go get him, Frank, please, and give him a peck for me'." Frank the crow explained.

Jason wanted to protest to this, but then he remembered Piper's charmspeak. Fair enough. He followed the crow to ground level, where the Leo's and Piper were standing in an alley. Frank turned human as Piper gave Jason a withering looking, but she said nothing.

"Nice of you to show up." Said Fire mildly.

"He was tired. Give it a rest, Fire." Said Drive. It sounded brave and exasperated, but Jason noted the way Drive didn't meet Fire's burning glare as he spoke.

"Where's Hazel?" asked Jason, ignoring both.

"Scouring the city on Arion." Explained Frank.

"Wait." Inferiority held up a hand. He closed his eyes and tilted his head listening intently. He looked at the others. "Feel that?" They nodded.

"What?" Piper asked excitedly.

"They're at Sidari Water Fun Park."

From the air, Sidari Water Fun Park was quite a sight. Bright blue slides twisted in on themselves, like snakes that gushed gallons of water, pushing happy tourists about. The whole place smelled of chlorine. Ice cream stands, restaurants and souvenir shops were everywhere. A wave pool was off to the right. This was Percy-Jackson-Heaven-Land. All it needed was a few dolphins to chat with.

"How do we find them in this?" exclaimed Piper, squirming on Jason's back to get a better look. Jason shrugged helplessly.

Despite their pessimism, it took a little less than half an hour to find them. They spotted them at ground level, through a crowd of tourists. Comedy was running around like a little kid, totally fascinated with everything, like he'd never been to a water park before. Creativity was wandering around behind him like a tired babysitter. He was tinkering with something in his hands – as usual.

Jason was thinking that they could jump them when they both stiffened. Evidently, they could sense the other Leo's too.

"Go!" it came out louder than Jason intended. The world exploded into action. Comedy and Creativity ran, the others in hot pursuit. Of course, they _had _to split up. Jason and Piper chased Comedy. The Leo's and Frank chased Creativity. That seemed a little uneven to Jason, but he figured the Leo's were following Fire. Dang, he hated that guy.

Jason and Piper chased Comedy up a several flights of stairs that were leading to the top of one of the larger water slides. Somehow, there was no-one in the line. Comedy was already clambering into one of the rafts when Jason and Piper reaching the top, huffing and puffing.

"Wait!" called Jason. The bored (and rather dopey-looking) attendant stopped. "We're with him."

"Whatever, dude." He gestured for them to climb in. His escape plan was foiled, but somehow Comedy was still grinning. The attendant shoved them down the open chute.

The ride itself was a little dull. It just twisted and turned down the slide, splashing them now and then. Comedy was laughing his head off.

"Comedy," Piper said sternly. "You have to come with us." Comedy's face did a funny little dance – flickering between his usual grin and a grimace of concentration as he tried to resist the charmspeak. Suddenly, he smiled and jerked the boat to the side. They slid – up, up and over the edge of the slide!

Someone screamed – Jason maybe? They free fell through the air before Jason scooped up Piper and hovered in mid-air. Comedy was still in the raft and plummeting towards the ground.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" he yelled, throwing his hands in the air, like _Yay! I'm going to die!_

In desperation, Jason threw a fist full of wind at the raft. It acted as a sort of trampoline and the raft bounced past a giant crab and landed in the wave pool.

Wait, a giant crab?

Frank was a sheepdog. He considered a lion, but he didn't want to freak out tourists. So, Frank the sheepdog ran after Creativity, just in front of the other Leo's. Creativity was rummaging frantically through his tool belt. Frank shook his hairy head. All the Leo's had a tool belt, but in Creativity's hands, it was a dangerous weapon. Hey, wait a minute…

Frank leaped into the air and transformed into an eagle mid-jump. He was getting better at that. He soared after Creativity. He didn't have room to be a big eagle, so simply scooping the tinkerer up wasn't an option. But a normal sized eagle was perfect for what he had in mind. He dove sharply and snatched Creativity's tool belt from his waist in one fluid movement.

Creativity cried out in protest and shook a fist at Frank. He stared up at the eagle, not looking at the pathway and fell – right into the wave pool. The Leo's dived in after him. Frank landed in the pool and transformed into … a giant crab? Really? Sometimes that happened. He was going for a dolphin, but the seafood stand distracted him. Hey, he was hungry. He'd missed breakfast. Frank hated missing breakfast.

He landed with a splash and made a grab at Creativity. He might've gotten him too, if it weren't for the raft. Something huge and red flew over Frank's head, just missing his crabby eyes. He heard slightly insane laughter, and for a wild moment thought, _Santa_?

The raft touched down and skipped like a stone, and Frank saw Comedy. _Nope, _he thought, _just Latino Santa's elf. _Something flew at him from behind and he blindly snatched. He then saw, clamped lightly in his claws, Jason and Piper. Oops.

"FRANK!" groaned Piper. Frank hastily dropped them. He turned to Creativity, but the Leo's had it well in hand. Drive was holding firmly onto his wrist and pulling him ashore. He seemed willing to come quietly. Romance picked up the tool belt Frank dropped and tied it around his friend's waist. Creativity gave him a rare smile.

"Wait, where's Comedy?" asked Jason. Frank turned human and looked back to where he landed. The raft was at the edge of the pool.

But Comedy was gone.

**Dun, dun, DUUUUUN! So, that's that! One extra-long chapter for you, to make up for time. I'll update quicker this time. Probably. **

**'Almost' … understanding Calculus! Whoo! Well, almost…**

**BTW Sidari Water Fun Park is a real place, but I've never been, so I completely guessed from tourist pictures and my times at other water parks. **

**Till next time!**


	8. Too Late

**Hola, amigos. This one will be another talking chapter. **

**BTW, I will definitely not be updating tomorrow afternoon. My Drama class has a performance – 'The Caucasian Chalk Circle'. I'm The Singer and the hysterical fat servant, Nina. :D**

**Comedy's third day, huh? The end is nigh…but, till then;**

**ALLONS-Y!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own my life, I own my rights and I own my own bookcase that my Dad built for me. But I don't own Percy Jackson.**

Piper was getting seriously concerned about Jason. It was the third day and he'd been up at dawn. Everyone was going mad trying to find Comedy, except Creativity, who was repairing the front stabilisers ("WHAT THE HADES DID YOU DO TO MY SHIP!?"). Hazel, Drive and Frank went back to Sidari and searched it top to bottom and sideways. They'd even asked the staff at the water park if they'd seen him.

Annabeth, Percy and Romance were underwater. Romance and Annabeth were kept alive by Percy's Poseidon-ish water powers. They'd been around the island of Corfu twice, looking on every shore line and communing with random marine animals. But the dolphins knew nothing.

Coach, Inferiority, Sadness and herself had wandered around the beach and forest area for hours, in the hope he'd decided to come back on his own. Piper secretly wished Coach would stop yelling, "VALDEZ! OH, VALDEZ! C'M HERE, OR I BREAK OUT THE BASEBALL BAT!" Somehow, that didn't work.

But Jason was scaring her. When he found out about Coach's threats, he blew up and dragged him into the next room yelling, "That's it! We need to talk!". He had definitely been working the hardest. He'd been flying himself and Fire around all day, scouring Greek countryside. He had flown around at top speed, waiting for the creepy Leo to get a tug. But despite their best efforts, there had been nothing.

Piper remembered the conversation she'd had with Romance, and the information she relayed to the others…

_It was late afternoon on the second day and Piper had gathered all the other demigods (Leo's excluded) in her cabin. She wasted no time in explaining the situation._

_"He met someone." she blurted out._

_"What!?" said Percy._

_"When!?" asked Jason._

_"I KNEW IT!" shrieked Hazel._

_"Whoa, whoa," Annabeth put up her hands for calm. "What are you on about?" she asked Piper._

_Piper quickly explained how Romance had (rather giddily) told her about Calypso as they'd flown back to the Argo II. They'd hated each other at first, but he'd fallen for her. Hard. She'd kissed him as he left, and he'd quietly sworn on the Styx to come back for her. _

_"But nobody ever finds Ogygia twice! As in small 'n', nobody! And breaking that kind of vow…" Percy trailed off, aghast. He looked guilty, probably thinking about how he'd hurt her. But Piper saw the look in his eyes and wondered if it went deeper. He wasn't still in love with her – she could tell that much. Not for the first time, she wondered what had happened in Tartarus._

_"We'll have to help him." said Frank. Piper looked at him in surprise. She was amazed at how quickly they'd gotten over their differences. _

_"Agreed." Jason said. Piper looked at him. Was it her imagination, or did he stir when Percy mentioned breaking oaths on the Styx? _

_Annabeth sighed. "We'll sort it out. But, first, we have to get her boyfriend back together." She looked at Jason. "I assume you have a plan?" _

_Jason nodded. No-one pressed for more. They trusted him. _

And now, Piper mulled it over. How much about Leo did they actually know?

She gazed at the setting sun. The day was almost out, and there'd been no sign. Hope was fading faster than the light. She felt a wave of hopeless sadness, just as Leo's Sadness walked passed her on the deck. He was headed to where Jason stood next to Festus.

Jason was thinking so hard, he thought smoke would start coming out of his ears. There had to be something. Anything. He had less than half an hour before his best friend's sense of humour faded into nothingness. Where would it go? The Underworld? Tartarus? No. There had to be something. Tears of exhaustion and frustration and sadness and guilt stung his eyes and blurred his vision. Anything.

He didn't notice Sadness until he spoke. "Jason?"

Jason rubbed his eyes furiously and whirled to face him. "Hey, Sadness."

"We need to talk." Jason didn't like the sound of that. Sadness wandered over to lean next to Jason. "You have to stop."

"What?"

"You heard. Stop."

"Stop what?" asked Jason.

"Feeling guilty." said Sadness simply. He heaved a sigh and a tear escaped one of his blue eyes. "Look, I've avoided telling you this, but I think; now you need to know." Jason was genuinely curious and a little scared by now. Sadness launched into the story. "It happened when I was eight…"

Jason was shocked. Leo had always been so…general when talking about his mum's death. It was always "she died in a fire" or "Gaia killed her". But now, this was the full, real story. Jason could barely imagine how frightened Leo would've been. He was only eight years old. Jason wasn't too big to admit he got a little teary by the end.

Sadness's voice trembled here and there, particular when he talked about losing control of his powers. They stood in silence for a long time. Then, for the first time since Leo had been separated, Sadness wiped away his tears and stared Jason straight in the eyes. They were bluer than his and full of determination. He had a point to make here.

"Look," he said, almost angrily. "I can tell you first hand. Stop. Feeling. Guilty. It wasn't your fault, this mess. I got scared and my mum died. You got mad and said something you shouldn't have. But if this doesn't end well, guilt will eat you alive like a mob of _emposai. _It's like a disease. Do you know why you've never even heard of me before?" Jason couldn't respond around the lump in his throat.

"Because I didn't even consider the possibility that my mum's death wasn't 100% my fault until we came back from our quest. So don't feel guilty. It'll destroy you." And just like that, he left.

Jason was shell-shocked. He'd carried that guilt around for SEVEN YEARS? How did he get up and smile in the morning? Then, Jason looked up, horrified at the sun. It had sunk completely. The day was over.

Smiling had been Comedy's job. Now that he was gone forever, Leo would fall apart.

**Cue the gasps. **

**Sorry to leave y'all with a cliff-hanger when I know I can't update till Thursday at least. Oh, well, you'll manage. Probably. **

**'Too late' to change to the easy maths class.**

**Ironically, as soon as I started typing up the conversation with Sadness, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, the cheeriest song Disney's ever made, came up on my playlist. I swear it's doing it on purpose now.**

**Till next time!**


	9. Mutiny

**I'm back! The play? Would've been fantastic…if they knew their lines…if we had the right props…if the wedding scene actors didn't burst out laughing for no reason. Ah, well. **

**Anyway, going for my learners soon! Whoop!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Percy Jackson, but I have my own special tea-cup. It's bright yellow. That's kind of the same thing, right? RIGHT!?**

_Smiling had been Comedy's job. Now that he was gone forever, Leo would fall apart._

Jason stared at the sun like it had just flipped him the bird. He couldn't comprehend it. He'd failed. Just as he was beginning to understand how important Leo's humour really was to help him function right, he'd let him slip away. He looked at the horizon, half-wishing the sun would just rise up again and give them more time. But the sky got darker and darker.

Jason tried to fight back horrified nausea. He gave a little sob, but blinked back tears. He couldn't afford to lose it. He wouldn't.

"There, there. No need to cry over Me." said a voice from behind him. Jason whirled – he'd been doing that a lot lately – and gasped aloud.

It was Comedy.

"How…what…?" Jason choked. He didn't know whether to hug him or hit him. "Where did you come from?" he managed. Comedy shrugged, grinning.

"I've been below deck in my room since around nine o'clock this morning." he said perkily.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" it came out a little louder and high-pitched than Jason intended. Piper and Sadness came up to the masthead. Jason realised even Festus had turned to stare. He heard the others coming up the stairs. He got a hold on himself.

"What happened?"

Soon, they were sitting in a circle on the main deck. Comedy began explaining. He had decided to come back. He walked through the night and caught a train or two. He finally reached the ship, only to find no-one was there. Exhausted, he crashed, until he'd woken up at dusk and found Jason.

"But what made you come back?" asked Annabeth.

"After I escaped the water park, I realised that Piper's charmspeak was still affecting me." he said, a little ruefully. "Sending the raft off the edge stalled it a little with adrenaline, but after that…" He trailed off, but he looked directly at Jason as he spoke, sending him silent message. He'd wanted to come back, really. Comedy was just a good actor.

"So…" Frank frowned slightly. "We searched all day…for nothing?"

Comedy tried to fix him with an innocent look, but he couldn't stop the mischievous smirk breaking out across his face. Frank groaned and flopped onto his back. Despite the glares, withering gazes and 'oh-c'mon-you-must-be-joking' looks he was getting, Comedy burst out laughing.

"If you could see your faces," he chortled. "I promise you'll be laughing too." Despite themselves everyone smiled, except Fire (well, Sadness did a happy little eye-crinkle – close enough).

"Speaking of promises," Fire looked pointedly at Jason. Unsurprisingly, he was the only one who didn't seem happy to have Comedy back. "I believe, you swore you wouldn't try to unite us." there was a triumphant tone to his voice, as if to say, _Nice try, but you still don't win, Grace. _

"That's true." Said Jason. Only he saw the door open and only he saw who walked on to the deck. He couldn't stop the smile. "I did, didn't I?"

Fire frowned suspiciously at him, than glanced at the other demigods. "You lot swore too. All of you. There's no-one left!"

"Well actually, cupcake," came a voice from behind. "I was napping when _this lot _jumped off the deep end. I'm left." Everyone turned to see Coach Gleeson Hedge leaning casually on his baseball bat in the doorway. Everyone was perfectly quiet. Then Fire threw back his head and laughed - a cold, mocking sound that was chock full of malice.

"You!?" he sniggered. "This is your big idea?" he asked Jason. He turned back to Hedge. "You're going to convince us? How? With your bat? Or your busted megaphone? Listen, _Gleeson, _you are perhaps the only person shorter than Leo in the world. And you're not exactly a diplomat." He collapsed laughing again.

Comedy looked at Fire as though to say, y_ou call that a laugh_? Then he stood.

"Well, I'm already convinced. The fact he's not Fire gets me on side." he said cheerily, walking over to stand beside Hedge. Drive stood too.

"I'm with Comedy." said Drive, concise as always. Jason glanced at the others.

Sadness had started crying again – silent tears, without sobbing. Inferiority was watching with wide eyes. Creativity looked up from his little whatever-it-was as though this might be even more interesting than building. Romance was looking desperately between the two groups. Fire glared at them all, as though daring them to join Comedy and Drive.

Jason's heart rate quickened. If it was going to be a power struggle, he had no idea who would win. Fire was intimidating. Comedy was popular. He sighed internally. He hoped it wouldn't come to this – he could die, or worse. But he had promised himself he wouldn't hurt Leo again, and some might consider being eternally separated into different personalities as 'hurt'. This was his mess, and he was going to fix it.

He prayed that the Fates would accept the loophole he'd placed and gave Hedge a tiny nod. He gave a not-so subtle wink and slammed down his bat like a judge's gavel. Well, that's one way to get everyone's attention. He pointed the bat at the Leo's.

"You cupcakes are incredibly thick." he started. Jason raised an eyebrow at that. "I mean, really, I've spent the past month or so running around after these hoons. I've seen nosy Frank Zhang, Pretty-Voice Piper, the Smartass and Mr Sneaky-Jackson Fiasco. They have pulled some pretty bad stunts. And none of them work on their upper body strength! Except Frank. And Leo blew up New Rome – that was good – but totalled the satellite while he did that! And then…" he trailed off when he saw Jason's look. _Get to the point. _Hedge cleared his throat.

"Anyway, you weird Leo cupcakes are all idiots. Because you make them look like kids. Cute, baby-goat kids. Don't you morons see that you're all the same guy?"

The Leo's looked confused. Jason resisted the urge to slap his palm to his forehead. Annabeth had probably worked out what he was up to. That would explain the please-tell-me-you're-joking face.

"You know, you all have bits of the others there. And we see them and…stuff." Hedge blundered on. This time the Leo's got it.

###########################################

_ Jason realised that they all looked like Leo, but…not._

_ Drive and Fire ran down the hall, working together like they'd rehearsed it all their lives._

_Obviously, Inferiority had the most, but if inferiority was his fatal flaw, it stood to reason that they all had tiny inferior bit in them._

_The five Leo's attacked as one to protect the Argo II._

_They waved and spoke in perfect unison._

_Funny how even Drive had a spot of comedy in him. _

_Sadness wiped away his tears and stared Jason straight in the eyes. They were bluer than his and full of determination._

###########################################

It was true. Ever since this kerfuffle had started, there had been pieces – tiny clues. Each Leo had a bit of the others in him. They could never be apart, whether they united or not. Slowly, that realisation dawned on their faces.

Fire looked unimpressed. "Nice try, donkey, but we have to _agree _on something physical. Your little pep talk, though entertaining, won't cut it." Slowly, Romance got to his feet.

"Well, I think agreeing to get back together is pretty darn important." He smiled at Drive and Comedy. "Agreed."

"Agreed," they chorused.

"Agreed," Creativity joined the other three at the other end of the deck.

"Agreed," said Sadness leaving Inferiority alone. Only one more left.

But Fire moved faster than a cobra. Before Inferiority could move or speak, he had grabbed him from behind.

Now they stood in the middle of the deck, with Fire holding a Stanley knife to Inferiority's throat.

**Whoa, bet'cha didn't see that coming! Next chapter's the last. Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing!**

**Thanks y'all.**

**DON'T FORGET TO CAST YOUR VOTES! NEXT CHAPTER THE RESULTS WILL BE ANNOUNCED!**

**My brain and stomach both 'mutiny' in maths. Yes, stomach – it makes me hungry.**

**Till next time! **


	10. United

**Had the best time at Supanova. Bought some TARDIS earrings and a necklace that says 'WORD-NERD' in scrabble chips. Then I played Quidditch in my Mad Hatter costume. **

**IMPORTANT! - Last chapter deviated a little from the original plan. I had a moment where words just sort of poured from my fingers. But I am fond of the original. However, I had a brainwave, so I'm including both, twining them around each other in a plait like fashion! In simple terms – THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER ANYMORE!**

**DISCLAIMER: We all know this bit – the one where I own nothing – so let's just get on with it.**

_Now they stood in the middle of the deck, with Fire holding a Stanley knife to Inferiority's throat._

Twelve demigods drew weapons, staring with horror and disgust at Fire. The hot-headed not-Leo had a mad glint in his eyes – like he knew this was plain wrong, and he liked it.

"Fire…" started Comedy, in a warning tone. Even Comedy couldn't joke right now – Fire had gone too far. Fire turned to Comedy, roughly pulling Inferiority with him. Jason wanted to attack him so badly. But he couldn't hurt Inferiority. He was so subordinate and friendly and, let's face it, downright cute. Who could hurt him?

"Yeah?" Fire responded, casual as you please.

"Let him go." Comedy slowly started forward. Fire pushed on the knife gently, forcing Inferiority's head back so he was looking up. Comedy stopped. Fire tilted his head, a demented smile on his face.

"Why couldn't you be like Faynor, Leo?" he asked tutting. "Faynor was fun and knew when he had power. He _loved _me. But you…" his eyes burned with hatred. "You feared me. You hated me. Why? If only you'd just-"

He was cut off abruptly as Inferiority threw himself back suddenly. He pushed his hands out so Fire's knife was pushed aside. He lunged forward, eyes wide.

"Agre-" he tried to get out desperately. But Fire regained his balance. He threw himself forward with a roar, clamping a hand over Inferiority's mouth and pulling him back coarsely. Inferiority gave a little whimper and his eyes widened with fear as the knife returned, cutting his chin on the way. A tiny trail of blood ran off his chin.

"So," Fire was forcing calm. "In a nutshell, you unite, I fade or I get stuck and tamed in Leo again. Not happening. I'm going to be free to make my own choices, which include re-starting a bigger, better Great Fire of London. Since I can't separate from you idiots, it looks as if you're coming long for the ride. Understood?"

"NO!" yelled Sadness suddenly. He started forward, stopping when he was a pace in front of Comedy. Amazingly he wasn't crying – he was angry. "Listen here mister! You killed my mother! You deliberately broke out of Leo and set our home on fire! So, I'm not letting you hurt ONE MORE PERSON!" he shouted, a single tear escaping – maybe out of habit? Fire's black eyes seemed to gleam with rage. He threw Inferiority aside, sending him sprawling and dazed. He threw down the knife in rage – it stuck itself firmly in the deck.

Fire pulled a large hammer from his belt and lit it up. He pointed it at Sadness.

"YOU!? YOU won't let ME!? Oh-ho-ho, I don't think so!" He sent an intense blast at Sadness. It caught him in the chest and sent him flying across the deck. Thank the gods, all the Leo's were fire-proof, but a mast to the head – ouch. Piper stepped forward.

"Enough!" she bellowed, pouring all her dismay, rage and horror into the charmspeak. Fire's face went totally slack. His magnificent, blazing eyebrows crinkled in concentration as he tried to resist. Slowly, dazedly he let his raised hammer drop into a peaceable position.

"Now," she continued in a calmer tone. "You will agr-"

"NO!" yelled Jason, panic stricken. She looked at him in surprise. "Your oath." He explained. Her eyes went wide as she realised she'd nearly forced them back together, breaking her oath on the River Styx.

As the others watched this exchange, no-one noticed Fire prowling towards Comedy, hammer ready. Piper had lost her concentration and Fire was free.

It was Frank who noticed him - "COMEDY!"

Comedy spun around and leapt backwards, just as Fire was about to brain him from behind. Piper stepped forward angrily, but Comedy held up a hand to stop her.

"He's gone too far this time." Comedy said pulling out a hammer of his own. "Sadness may be down for the count, but I'm not going to let him hurt anyone else."

Comedy stood, facing Fire. Jason grimly noted his position. His legs spread wide, hammer out in front of him, shoulders forward. Overall, he looked defensive and reluctant. Unless he was foxing – which could be possible – Fire had the advantage of confidence.

And of speed apparently. Fire rushed at Comedy, hammer raised. Comedy sidestepped, equally as quick. Fire tried to pivot back around with a wide swing, but Comedy danced back. It went like this for some time – Fire attacking, Comedy dodging. That was another advantage for Fire – Comedy was reluctant to hurt him.

Frank, with his eye for fighting, noticed that Comedy was fighting well, despite how it seemed. He jumped around erratically, not going any one way. That way, Fire couldn't corner him. But he was getting tired fast.

Comedy realised that too. Seeing no other option, he lunged at Fire. They remained, chest to chest in the middle of the deck. Hammers locked, they looked at each other. Fire's eyes would full of hatred, Comedy's full of…pity?

Slowly, Comedy started to lose the struggle. Fire bore down on him. Desperately, Comedy took one hand away – which caused him to fall to his knees – and shoved Fire in the stomach. It was just meant to throw him off balance, but it did a bit more than that.

Fire staggered back with a little gasp, one hand over his stomach. Alarm fluttered in his eyes. Comedy frowned at him, and then raised his eyebrows. Then the biggest, more infectious grin spread across his face as he figured it out. He stood up straight, the mischief in his eyes so bright, it caught Fire like a deer in the headlights.

Fire glared at him, backing away slowly, hammer raised threateningly. He shot a white hot blast at Comedy, who dodged it, still smiling. He dashed towards Fire with new energy. Fire ran. Away. Fire ran away from Comedy, throwing fireball after fireball at him over his shoulder. Comedy dodged all off them, sidestepping and rolling, getting closer and closer. Finally, he dodged a fireball by rolling to the right of Fire. He came up standing and tackled Fire around the middle.

His hammer skittered away and Comedy sat on his legs. He lit his hands and glared at Comedy. Comedy just smiled and poked his sides. His fire went out as he lost concentration and screamed…with laughter?

Jason eyebrows went so far up, they nearly lifted off his forehead and flew to Olympus. Fire, who was possibly the scariest guy he'd ever met…was ticklish? It was so backwards and weird that Jason could only stare as Fire struggled and laughed and gasped on the deck with Comedy tickling his sides and stomach.

"STOP IT!" he gasped. It was probably meant to sound intimidating, but it came out as what can only be described as squeaky.

By this time, the other Leo's had helped Sadness and Inferiority to their feet. Now they stood beside the questers, totally bemused.

"Wha…?" said Frank **(A/N: that was my first review.) **The Leo's shrugged in unison. They didn't get it either. Drive cleared his throat.

"Ah, Comedy?" The grinning Leo looked up, still prodding Fire. Rive tilted his head towards Inferiority.

"Oh, yeah!" A little reluctantly, Comedy got up and went over to them. "Agreed."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"Agreed." Said Inferiority and grabbed Romance's shoulder. All the Leo's had grabbed another's shoulder. Now a faint white light had appeared around them, getting brighter by the second – the blessing of Hera.

"Wait!" yelled Fire. He'd scrambled to his feet and was glaring at them. Of course, the effect was somewhat spoiled by the fact he was blushing, and the fact one of his eyebrows had gone out. "You can't do this without me! All the Leo's have to agree. AND I DON'T!"

"Au contraire, mon ami." Said Comedy with a terrible fake accent. He jokingly brandished a rainbow feather duster at Fire, who was looked at like it was a machine gun. "You're not Leo."

For the first time in days, Jason felt relaxed and genuinely happy. The Leo's were going to reunite and everything would be back to normal.

The perfect time for something to go wrong.

Hazel looked at furious Fire and noticed he wasn't glowing. Her eyes widened as she realised he wasn't holding on either.

"Grab Fire!" she yelled as she shoved him towards the others. The Leo's frowned in confusion before realising what she meant. They lunged forth as one, before the deck was engulfed in white light.

When they could see again, there was Leo. One, good, old, totally united Leo, blinking confusedly. He rubbed his head and looked at them.

"How did I get out here?" he asked. Piper laughed and hugged him. Jason smiled. Hazel did a little jumpy-dance thing.

"Wait!" said Annabeth, eyes wide. She looked at Leo. "Did Fire make it or did he fade?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, still rubbing his head. It made sense, considering all the times he'd been hit on the head recently.

"You don't remember?" asked Frank. Leo raised his eyebrows at him.

"Leo," said Piper, with a tiny bit of charmspeak. "Could you please light one of your fingers on fire?"

Leo raised his hand in front of his face and frowned in concentration.

Nothing happened.

**Ha. Bet you all thought I was out of cliff-hangers. Wrong. Sorry about the wait. Horatio, the little writing ninja in my mind, kept falling asleep halfway through. This actually took several days. **

**…I'm out of maths jokes. Damn.**

**Almost done. I'll try and keep Horatio awake this time.**

**Till next time. **


	11. Better

**Hello, everybody! The one, the only, the LAST CHAPTER! Squee! It's been fantastic; you've all been really great. I had another quirky story idea, I just need to iron out the kinks – keep an eye out for it!**

**TrueDemigodishness – Supanova, my padawan, is an event we have in Australia – once or twice a year at the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney and Adelaide. It's Australia's biggest pop culture expo, with shops, games, panels and celebrity guests (last year, I got to meet Tom Felton XD). You stand out in the crowd if you're NOT dressed up, and you can do cool stuff like take a stage fighting class or playing Quidditch. Lots of fun.**

**DISCLAIMER: After much deep thought and reflection, I have come to the conclusion that maybe – just maybe – I don't own Percy Jackson. Damn.**

_Leo raised his hand in front of his face and concentrated._

_Nothing happened._

Leo's frowned deepened as he tried to conjure flames. The other questers and Coach Hedge stared and prayed. They'd all but lost hope until, a full ten seconds later, a tiny flame sparked and danced across his fingers. They all exhaled as it went out.

"Sorry," he said. "A little tired." Then he promptly passed out.

When Leo woke up, he was lying on a soft bed in the sick bay, which he found a little concerning. His head felt like the inside of a drum that had a troop of Irish dancers jigging on it – that is to say hollow, throbbing and painful.

What was even more alarming was that, according to the wall calendar, the last thing he remembered had happened days ago. Everything else was a big blank.

He burned with guilt as he remembered the fight, particularly the punch to the face. At the time, it'd seemed so important that he protect his secret. He'd been so angry, he'd felt no regret hitting Jason.

But all that seemed stupid and childish now. He felt guilty and sad and just generally like an idiot. The hit was uncalled for, and he shouldn't have gotten so worked up.

"Hey." Leo turned his head to see Jason sitting at his bed side.

"Hey." They sat in awkward silence. Leo could tell Jason was thinking about the fight too. Desperate to break the silence, Leo cleared his throat.

"How's the eye?" he asked. As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. He didn't want to seem mocking – he was genuinely concerned.

"Fine, fine. All better." Jason responded nonchalantly, faking a smile. Now they were definitely thinking about the fight. Way to make this more awkward, Valdez.

The silence grew so heavy that Leo realised he'd been counting the seconds. Thirty. Forty-five. One minute. Exactly one minute and eight seconds later, they both started talking at the same time.

"Look, man-"

"I was so stupi-"

"So sorry-"

"Your mum, I-"

As suddenly as they'd started they stopped and laughed awkwardly. Jason regarded him seriously.

"Look, man. I'm so sorry. And I know that sounds fake, but I hated myself as soon as said…that. It was stupid and, well, let's face it, I kind of deserved the punch." he said, grimacing as he mentioned what he said.

Leo grimaced too, remembering the fight.

_"WHAT IS SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN TELL _ME_?" Jason yelled._

_"For the last time, Superman, mind your own business!" Leo didn't yell as loudly, but with more venom and mockery in his tone. Jason grabbed him by the arms._

_"You listen here, Vald-" he broke off in a yelp. Leo hadn't meant to, but his emotions got the better of him. His arms caught fire. Jason pulled back to avoid getting burnt. _

_"Dammit, Leo!" Jason cursed, waving one of his hands. "Can't you get that stupid fire under control? Haven't you hurt enough people with it?"_

_As soon as the words left his mouth, both boys stopped. Leo was stunned, Jason was horrified. Had he really just went there? Jason stopped waving his hand and tried to apologise, to undo it._

_"Leo, I-"_

_SMASH._

And now Jason was apologising. Leo looked at his hand, remembering his own rash actions. Jason was being the bigger person. Now it was his turn.

"It's fine. I shouldn't have hit you, even if you did deserve it – just a little," he teased, before turning serious again. "Seriously though, I'm sorry too. We were both kind of stupid."

They sat awkwardly, before hugging – you know, a very manly hug. More of a chest bump crossed with a gentle tackle. Very manly.

"So, what the Hades happened?"

In the end, Leo never found out what really happened of those three days. At best, he would be embarrassed by the truth. At best. So, according to the others, as he was storming away, he'd whacked his head – ran right into the door as Coach opened it. He'd been out cold for three days.

Jason leaned on the railing next to Percy. A lot of conversations seemed to happen on the railing these days.

"I don't get it. Who knew Coach could be so deep?" Percy was saying. Jason smiled.

_When he heard about the threats, Jason had dragged the satyr into the next room yelling, "That's it! We need to talk!"_

_As soon as they were away, Jason dropped the angry act and started talking quickly._

_"Right, Coach, listen. Everyone except you has taken an oath on the Styx not to unite them. Meaning you have to. Now, I've noticed the odd thing or two. Here's what you have to say…"_

He had been scared about that. It technically was a loophole, since he didn't convince _them. _He convinced Coach to convince them. Very different. Sort of. But he hadn't been cursed or struck down yet, so he was feeling optimistic they'd accepted it. Hazel was fine too. Jason had thought her pushing Fire would be bad, but she was right as rain – if a little seasick. He clapped Percy in the shoulder.

"I don't know man. I simply do not know." And he walked away. 

Over the following week or so, Leo's headache faded and he went back to work. He stopped brooding and started smiling again. The fragile, awkward apology between him and Jason quickly grew into their old friendship. The ship got fixed, and they were back on course. Everything was back to normal.

Almost.

They stopped annoying Creativity while he worked – unless it was important.

Jason and Piper made less time for each other and more for Sadness, because even Leo got lonely.

Annabeth secretly researched Calypso, determined to reunite her with Romance.

Frank praised Leo's inventions, to show Inferiority how worthy he was.

Hazel convinced Leo to take some down time now and then, because no-one worked harder than Drive.

Percy smiled more, grateful for Comedy, who was obviously very important.

And they trusted Leo – no-one was better at keeping Fire in check.

What could they say? They knew Leo better now.

**The end. Hoped you like it! You guys have been great. Poll results below.**

**By the way – My entire class has a 'united' opinion about maths (it sucks) and I'm getting 'better' at it. XD**

**POLL**

**Fire: 2**

**Comedy: 7**

**Inferiority: 9**

**Drive: 3**

**Romance: 2**

**Sadness: 2**

**Creativity: 4**

**INFERIORITY'S THE WINNER! Confetti cannons! Wait, we don't have confetti cannons? Aww…**

**Till next time! (well, this is the last chapter so…till I see you again, maybe?)**


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